Giants' new left fielder Michael Morse has forgettable debut

Giants fans may have cringed a bit watching Michael Morse make his home-team debut in left field in the first game of the Bay Bridge Series at AT&T Park. Morse overran a double in the corner. He dropped a lazy fly ball for an error. He made a valiant dive on a sinking Josh Donaldson liner but let it get by him for a triple.

Even by Morse's own admission, it did not go well. But he's hoping we've seen the worst of it before the games start to count.

"I'm glad I got it out of the way today," Morse said after the Giants' 4-0 loss to the A's on Thursday night. "I'll tell you what, that was a first for me (dropping such an easy fly). It's tough, but that's what these games are for, and that's why we're here to play under the lights. I haven't had a chance to play left field here a lot, maybe one game. But I'm getting used to it, getting acclimated to it, learning the lines and knowing what the ball does in the air both early and later in the game.

So what happened on that Josh Reddick floater in the fourth that should have been a can of corn?

"The ball went up and then it just went back toward the infield," Morse said. "I learned a lesson tonight. Don't take any ball here for granted."

Morse is not known as a great outfielder, but he's not exactly regarded as a butcher, either. He's made three errors in nine years playing the outfield for Washington and Seattle, and while errors aren't a strong defensive indicator for outfielders, it's hard to see how Morse will be any worse than late-era Barry Bonds or Pat Burrell. If he hits 20-25 home runs for the Giants, no one will care that much if he botches a few. That said, he'll need to be better out there than he was Thursday or it could be a long, painful season defensively.

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Bruce Bochy cut Morse plenty of slack in the wake of his dubious left field debut for the Giants.

"He just needs to play a little more out there," Bochy said. "He's missed a lot of time. That's why I left him out there and why he'll be back out there tomorrow. He'll get used to it. That's why you have spring training, and unfortunately because of his calf, he's missed a lot of time out there on defense."

Bochy also called AT&T's left field "the toughest in baseball" to play. That might be a stretch, but the lights and tricky winds can make it a challenge.

"He (Morse) just needs a few games under his belt," the manager said. "It can be a tough left field to play, especially when you're not acclimated. But once you get out there for a few games, you get used to it."